A picture of a man dressed in a sinister clown costume taken from a Facebook page called 'Spot the Burnley Clown' which has sparked panic after social media users falsely claimed he was terrorising the area

Police have been bombarded with frantic calls from the public after a Facebook site about a mystery clown sparked panic across four towns and villages.

The page called 'Spot the Burnley Clown' was set up to detail the movements of its creator as he paraded around areas of the Lancashire town dressed in an orange wig, painted face and fancy dress clothing.

But despite there being no sightings of the clown in the flesh, the page sparked frenzied gossip on the social media network with stories falsely claiming the joker was armed with a baseball bat was hiding in bushes ready to mug people.

The exaggerated stories spread panic across Burnley and the nearby towns of Blackburn and Clitheroe plus the village of Sabden.

Fearing a madman was on the loose like Pennywise, the killer clown from the Stephen King horror TV series It, dozens of calls were made to Lancashire police to alert them.

Teachers at primary schools were understood to have contacted police after concerned parents said their children were being frightened by reports.

Twitter users claimed the clown had been knocking on windows and mugging people, but police said no sightings had been reported since the rumours surfaced.

Officers said reports had been made from 'well meaning' people but said most were as a result of 'third hand' information.

The fear of clowns is known as coulrophobia which adults and children can suffer from.

Today,
Lancashire Police said: 'Over the last couple days, police have
received a number of calls from concerned members of the public in
Burnley and the surrounding areas with regards to a man dressed as a
clown reportedly in possession of a baseball bat.

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No sightings: These pictures were also posted on the Facebook page, but it is unclear whether they are of the same man. Police they are not taking any action because the reports are based on 'third-hand information'

'The calls have come as a result of various postings on Facebook as well as a dedicated page Spot the Burnley Clown, with comments becoming more and more exaggerated.

'We would like to reassure people that there is no foundation for any of these reports and we have had no first-hand reports of any incidents of violence or intimidation.